The Mermaids Tale
by Charmkeeper
Summary: AU. It's said that if you take a mermaid's belt that you get one wish. What happens when you make that wish, find out it's not what you want, and that it angers the mermaid Queen for putting her people in danger? SakuSyao and KuroFai
1. Preface

A//N: Wow. I have not posted anything in over a week because my documents weren't saving and now I'm posting another story! Wow...it feels like it's been forever.

Anyway, this is a new story by me and a friend I met on Gaia...I don't know her name on here, but I will get it to you as soon as I can so she can have her credit. However if you want to look us up on Gaia, it's Sniper Kayami (her) and Mage Fai D Flourite. (me)

If you must know how we possibly came up with this it's called insanity and favorite character bashing. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed coming up with it.

So, read and review. Most of all, enjoy.

* * *

"Captain!" A voice yelled over the loud cried of other people on the ship. Everyone was very busy. They were lowering sails, tying knots and making sure everything was in its proper place. "Captain!" 

At the second yell a man turned to the person gave the calls. He wore red clothes embroidered with silver and he held himself in a an almost royal way. His face was handsome. Narrow red eyes that saw all and a thin mouth. Atop his head sat tufts of spiked black hair. "Yes?"

"Captain. Are you sure we should continue to sail on? A storm is surely coming." The man seemed to shrink away from the sheer intensity of the captain's gaze.

"We will find the treasure that the Princess seeks. I have traveled many a storm such as this one. We'll be fine in it. We will, or my name isn't Kurogane."

"O-of course. My apologies." The sailor slinked away and Kurogane turned to look out over the sea once more. There was a storm coming. He could feel it. He could smell it. Even so, he was convinced that their ship would be okay. They would surely be fine…

* * *

Rain fell hard against the ship and waved tossed it back and forth. Even the strong captain had to hold onto something to keep himself upright on deck. "Captain! We can't go on like this! We need to raise sail!" 

Kurogane growled to himself, but nodded. They were right. It was foolish to deny his defeat, especially when it might cost one of his men their life. "Raise sail! Drop anchor!"

Another voice repeated the words in a louder tone of voice, and almost immediately these orders were carried out. However, the orders became obsolete when a huge wave overtook the ship so quickly that absolutely nothing could be done to prevent what happened next. As the wave came down on the ship its great force threw the captain and several other members of the crew overboard. The ship was thrown in one direction and Kurogane in the other.

The waves were horrible and even though Kurogane could swim, the multitude of waved forced him under the surface and down toward the bottom of the ocean floor.

Just as he started to black out he felt webbed fingers grab onto him and start to pull him up. His other hand gripped to the first thing they touched and he held onto it for dear life as it all consciousness escaped him.


	2. Chapter 1

A//N: Wow, it's finally here. Joy! Enjoy the chapter! Review for me, and tell me how horrible it is. ((hopefully it's not really horrible...))

This chapter is a Fai chapter while, next chapter will be a Sakura chapter.

I'm not sure how long this strange little story will be yet, hopefully not too long.

* * *

_Deep beneath the waves, deep down in the ocean blue there is life. Not just things like the fish and the seahorses, but intelligent life. Humans occasionally come across this life and dubbed them mermaids._

_Even so, no matter what the humans called them these creatures all had a few things in common. One of these things is the most obvious, the human-like upper body and the fish-like lower body. Another one of these similarities is their beauty. All mermaids are as beautiful as the most beautiful human female in face and in their long thin figures. This is why even if a human came across a male of the species they believed it to be a woman, thus mermaids._

_There was something else about mermaids that was known to be true for all of them; their belts. At birth every mermaid was given a belt made of the sea's finery's. This belt was far more than a classy accessory. This belt held the mermaid's very soul. It held its talents, its age, its sexuality, its power, its strength, its weakness, and most importantly its life force. The belt was also an indicator of social status among the mermaids, the longer the belt, the more power you held within your body, and along with it the higher your social status._

_This being the indicator it made things much more fair among the mermaids. It didn't matter what family you came from, it only mattered how long your belt was._

_Even so, even the shortest of belts had the power to grant at least one wish to humans. All mermaids know that humans are greedy little creatures and as such beings if they ever got a hold of a mermaids belt they would rather deny the mermaid their belt and the right to live and sell the belt for gold than to give the belt back and feel good about it for the rest of their days. So, the mermaid would often give the human a choice: Take the belt and let them die, or wish for something in exchange for the belt. The mermaids did this in hope that the greedy human would wish for lots of gold and then give back the belt, but more often than not this was not how it worked._

_To a human, wishing for a beautiful human bride who does not need a belt to live is worth more than gold or the belt alone..._

_Keep this in mind as our story goes forward._

* * *

"Are you sure you have something that will help?" The two children with butterfly wings looked up at the blond mermaid who smiled down at them. 

The two butterfly children looked similar, but not in the way twins did. One had short pink hair and the other long blue hair. At one time they had been simple butterfly fish, but the Queen of the mermaids had taken them and given them a new form that would enable them to better serve her. She had even given them names. Maru and Moro.

They were her eyes and her hands when she herself could or would not go out, such was the case at a time like this.

The blond was quite different. Sunshine colored hair with blue eyes that matched his tail. Like all mermaid's his face was beautiful and he had a long body. Over his torso he wore a light blue shirt that would have been illegal if he was of a lower rank. Only high mermaid's with a lot of power such as himself were allowed to wear movement restricting clothes. Over one shoulder he carried a messenger bag that was filled with something that seemed to almost bulge out with items, yet was apparently light enough to threaten to float away from him if he didn't hold onto it. Around his waist was a long set of pearls and shells. The strings wrapped around him at least three times and the ends were still long enough that his webbed fingers played with them as he watched.

This was the Sea Wizard, Fai. Even though he'd only inherited the title a few years ago, it was fabled that his magic was so strong that he could even get out of a human's wish, if his belt were ever stolen. It was also fabled that his belt was longer than the Queen's and that he should be the ruler instead. Both of these were untrue, and even if they hadn't...Fai had no desire to rule. The Queen gave him free reign of his magic and life and in return he did favors with his magic when the Queen wouldn't experiment with her own magic. Just like right now.

"Of course. I've developed this just for the Queen." Fai laughed as he reached into his bag and pulled out a bubble which he offered it to the butterflies. "I know that when she gets like this that it storms on the surface and that's not good...I hope her hangover dies down quickly after she pops the bubble...I haven't perfected the charm yet so it may have a couple side-effects. Be sure to tell her that?"

"Of course." Their voices rung out in unison as they carefully took the bubble away from Fai's outstretched hands. "The Queen owes you a favor."

Fai grinned. "The Queen owes me a lot of favors." His tone was joking, but he wasn't in reality. The Queen did owe him a lot of favors. Fai figured that since he currently had nothing he wanted that if he kept saving up he'd be able to ask for a huge favor later. "Swim well. Moro. Maru."

"Yes, Wizard Fai."

The blond waved them off with his grin and pulled his bag of bubble charms back to his shoulder. He looked to his wrist as if he had a watch to look at, but shook his head and instead looked up to the surface of the ocean. With one look Fai knew it was time to go home for the day. The sky was dark, and whether that meant it was night or whether it meant that the Queen was really hungover it was time to go home and sleep unless the darkness went away.

"Sakura!" Fai called out into the town square. "It's time to go home!" A faint voice answered him in a shy, but agreeing tone, and the grinning wizard turned around and left the middle of the small town that many of the civilized mermaids lived in.

He did not live here. He usually came here during the day to sell his bubbles, or to help people, or to talk, or to help his 'daughter' Sakura, or to do any of the many many things that a person such as himself had the liberty to do. Fai lived out by the coral reef and by swimming it took about ten minutes to get there from where he was. Unfortunately for him he only got halfway there.

Fai's head sharply turned when he saw something sinking down out of the corner of his eye. What was it? He squinted and gasped. "A human?!" He dropped his charm bag and swam quickly up and up to where the human was and grabbed onto him. It was hard to pull. Not only was the man heavy and Fai light, but swimming upward that quickly didn't give him the Benz but it did make his head very light from the lack of pressure. "Come on...don't drown..."

Fai struggled and struggled until he finally was able to get the man to the surface. It was really storming...the Queen hadn't popped his charm yet... "Please...be breathing..." Fai very clumsily looked the man over to make sure he was breathing before a wave overtook him for a moment. "Ack! Oh that's cold..." Fai shivered and looked around. "Where's your watercraft?! You didn't just fall from the sky! Even I know that!"

A whimper escaped Fai's lips as he realized that if he wanted this person to live he was either going to have to search for an unknown watercraft, or drag this heavy man around until he found even the smallest rock. Fai wanted the man to live.

Like most mermaids are Fai had a kind heart and wanted good things for people the last thing any mermaid wanted for a man to drown...although some drowned men when they forgot that they couldn't breathe underwater, but that was becoming much less and less.

The Queen herself had saved a young man from a storm! She'd even given him the ability to breathe under the water...although the Queen kept the poor boy there because he could speak to fish and even starfish...something not even Fai or the Queen could do...

Fai whimpered even more and hugged the man tightly as if he were a mother protecting her child from a barking dog. "I'm sorry..." Fai whispered. "I don't think there's much hope for you...not unless some miracle happens." Just then Fai eeped when he felt the water make a great lurch and an equally great wave came up. Fai gasped and held onto the man even tighter. "I never realized how much Queen Yuuko hates her hangovers!"

The wave swept them way off course from where they'd been and then... "Ouch!" Fai's back scratched against something hard. Sand? But he knew he was above water...land! Fai struggled to breathe, not because of the fact he wasn't touching water, but because the man was on top of him and as Fai had noticed before...he was heavy! After much effort Fai managed to get him off at last and sprawled out against the sand his chest heaving from the strain.

After a minute Fai got his breathing to a normal rate again and he sat up looking to the human. They weren't far enough up on land that the human wouldn't be out of the sea's reach. This meant more pulling... The wizard groaned and reached out to start the tedious job.

* * *

"There you are!" Fai reached out and took the floating charm bag. "I'm so glad I charmed you to not float too far away!" He hugged the bag to him and sighed contentedly as he began to swim home at last. He was exhausted. If he hadn't been tired before this thing with the human he was practically falling asleep now. 

As he reached the colorful coral reef he resided in he sat the bag down in its proper place. He swam as quietly as he could to a small cave and looked inside, there was Sakura, fast asleep. She was a good child, always doing what he told her to.

The wizard yawned and sorta zigzagged off to the area where he slept. He settled down on his stomach and closed his eyes...he shifted. He shifted again before his eyes opened again. Something was wrong.

The blond sat up and patted himself down from the top of his head all the way down to his waist...everything was there...no it wasn't. Panic arose in Fai when he realized what was missing. "My belt! I-it could be anywhere!" Fai put his hands tightly against his mouth to stop some form of a scream or a yelp from leaving it. He'd never lost his belt before! His life could be slipping away at any moment depending on how long he'd been missing it!

The wizard got up and swam at top speed no matter how long it bad been missing...

* * *

"Come now Fai...this is your only other option. It has to be up there, you've scoured the ocean until it's sparkled with cleanliness...so it can't be in the sea right? It has to be with that human..." Fai paced back and forth just under the waters surface. After a minute the mermaid took in a deep, deep breath and stuck his head up above the surface and stared at the island for a minute before going back down. 

"He has it!" This was supposed to be good news, and yet the tone was unhappy and the blond beat at his head with his hands. "And he's awake! This is bad!" Fai said the word bad about 1000 times over before he forced himself to stop. The more time he waisted here the less time he had alive.

"Okay, you can do this! Just...swim up to him and demand the belt! Don't even mention the wish!" Fai nodded. "After all, he's a deserted island! He has no reason to not give it to me! He has no use for gold! Or a bride!" These were of course just pipe dreams and Fai knew they were just pipe dreams, but it was all the wizard could tell himself to make him swim up to the shallow waters of the island and rest near the shore and call out.

"E-excuse me? Mr..." Fai squinted his eyes at the human. "Mr. Black? Mr. Red?" Mermaids were given their last name by the color of their tail, for example Fai's full name was Fai Blue. However the human did not have a tail and thus Fai had to guess by eye or hair color...

The human jumped and turned around to Fai to look at him as if he'd never seen anything quite like him. "What the hell are you?!"

"Um..." Fai frowned. "Mr.Black-Red? That belt you're holding...it's mine. I need it back." Fai's webbed hands reached out for the belt as if expecting it to be placed in his hands immediately.

"It's Kurogane!"

"So Mr. Black then? Kuro...Black..." Fai waved his hand in circles dramatically.

This just seemed to piss the human off more. "It's Kurogane Flourite!"

"So...Mr...Flourite?" Fai tilted his head and frowned.

"Yes."

Fai smiled slightly. "Such a strange last name...Flourite isn't a color." He chuckled darkly remembering what he was here for. "At any rate, I really need that belt now."

Kurogane looked at the belt, then at Fai and smirked. "This is a mermaid's belt...so if it's yours then you must be a mermaid. So tell me...what are you going to grant me?"

Fai wrinkled his nose, hoping that this human, unlike most humans, was an idiot. "Yes, I'm a mermaid, but why should I grant you something?"

"Isn't it true that a mermaid's belt holds their power and sexuality?"

"That and a whole bunch more..." Fai sighed. "So you know about the wish deal, most sailors that find these things do...what do you want?"

Kurogane reached out and lifted Fai's face up slightly so that he could see it. "The legends are true. Your folk are truly very beautiful...if you know your own tales...you should know exactly what I wish for."

"Are you sure? Right now I can guarantee with utmost certainty that you will regret it." Fai wanted to growl, this had not gone at all like his pipe dream. He had truly at least hoped to get his belt back without having to be bound to the land first!

"With a beauty like you? I doubt it."

Fai grumbled and pulled away. Then smiled, wait, wait, if he granted this wish and then the human found out he was male, then he might give him the belt back just to get rid of the fact that he was bound to a man. This too was a pipe dream, but Fai had to keep thinking positive or this was going to kill him quite quickly. What with the learning to walk and the learning of human customs and the doing of this and that...Fai knew that if he didn't get his belt back quickly, this sailor was going unintentionally send him to an early grave.

As Far retreated back into the water to grant the human his wish Fai started to think of other ways to get Kurogane sick enough of him to give him back his belt. The humans were clever, and if he wanted to return here, Fai had to be more clever.


	3. Chapter 2

A//N: Okay, next chapter. I don't really have a lot to say about this one other than I worked hard on it. I've never done a chapter from Sakura's or Syaoran's POV or even a chapter based mostly on them before. Hope you enjoy. Please review for your crazy author.

* * *

_"Fai?" A small child mermaid with reddish brown hair tugged on the shirt of a teenaged blond mermaid. The elder of the two looked down at the child and patted her head gently._

_"Yes Sakura?"_

_The girl seemed to be very shy and reluctant to ask the blond a question, but at last she spoke. "Why don't I call Fai 'Father,' like all the other kids call the bigger boy they're always with?"_

_Fai tried to resist a huge smile as he bent down and picked the child up into his arms. "Because Sakura, I'm not your father."_

_"You're not?" Sakura looked at the sea wizard with huge meaningful eyes and Fai shook his head causing his tussles of blond hair to wave back and forth slowly in the warm sea water._

_"No. I'm not. I was too young to be Sakura's Father. I was only eleven when you were born, far too young."_

_Sakura obviously didn't understand the age concept, but tilted her head and went with that answer anyway. "Oh...but if you're not my father, then who is my father? Why isn't he here?"_

_Fai smiled a very sad smile as he sat down on a rock near a clump of seaweed and bounced the girl lightly in his lap. "Your Father was my Teacher. He taught me magic, he was the best sea wizard there ever was."_

_The small girl giggled loudly when Fai bounced her, and grinned at the information that he gave her. "What happened to him?"_

_"He...went away. I woke up one morning and he was gone. He left a note, saying that he desperately wanted for me to take his place...both in the magic world and in your world."_

_"Well you aren't doing a very good job are you?"_

_Fai's eyes widened at this comment and he stroked Sakura's hair. "What? A-am I not pleasing you? Are you unhappy?"_

_"No!" Sakura reached up to play with the ends of Fai's golden locks. "You make me very happy, and people like your magic, but you say you're not my Father, when Father said that he wanted you to replace him!"_

_Fai put his hand to his mouth and chuckled at this. "Well, I can't exactly become blood related to you...even by magic that's impossible."_

_"Then let's pretend! We can play pretend! From now on I'll call you Father! And you have to find me a Mother. You have to hold her tight and smile and play with me together!" Sakura let go of his hair and waved her arms around frantically. She almost fell off Fai's lap except that the wizard caught her before it happened. "Please? Can we pretend? I really want Fai to be my Father..."_

_Fai once again resisted the grin that wanted to come to his face and nodded. "All right Sakura. I'll 'be' your Father...but I'm not so sure about finding a mother..."_

_"Right! After all Father and Mother have to be very in love and be happy, or it's no good!"_

Sakura opened her eyes and sat up. "No good..." Sakura had never been proficient at magic like either of her Fathers were, but she had strange powers that not even Fai himself could identify. Sakura could predict things in dreams, and although it wasn't always for sure, she didn't like to take chances.

This time she hadn't seen anything that would happen, she had seen something that had happened. It had happened eleven years ago now. Fai was older and wiser, and so was she, but they still 'played pretend.' Sakura supposed it was her fault. Fai wanted Sakura to be comfortable and she was comfortable calling him Father...although 'Father' had never found a 'Mother.'

Sakura frowned and gripped tightly to the edge of the blanket. That memory couldn't have been a normal dream. She wanted to know what it was...it was early, but perhaps Fai was already awake with his smile. If he was Sakura would ask him about the dream. She liked to think about how smart her foster father was. Surely he could decipher the dream.

The teenaged girl swam off out of her little cave and onto where Fai slept. He wasn't there. She checked in the area where he did all his spells and charms. He wasn't there. She checked in all the other places that Fai would be before going off to town. He wasn't in any of them. Fai wouldn't have gone off to town without her! No, no, he might come home before she did, but he never, ever left in the morning before she was by his side!

Sakura panicked, where could he be?! She gasped, what if...what if, Fai was missing? Just like her real Father had gone missing? That was horrible! She had to find him! She swam back to her cave and dug through all the various gifts that her Father had given her over the years until she found what she was looking for. It was a small white toy with a red gem in the center of its forehead. This was 'Mokona.' Fai had bought it for Sakura's tenth birthday and had then proceeded to cast various charms on it and even call in a favor and have the mermaid queen bless it. Because of these things Mokona could be animate. Mokona could also talk, and do various little tricks, one of which was finding things. "Moko-chan?!"

The creature began to move and a moment later it smiled up at Sakura with a huge, almost cat-like grin. "Hello Sakura! How are you?"

"I-I'm bad Moko-chan...Father. He's gone missing!"

The creature's smile faded slightly as it tried to put a short arm to it's mouth. "That doesn't sound good. Mokona will find him for you!" Sakura nodded and Mokona looked down as if it had gone inanimate again, but then, out of the blue it lifted it's head and it's red jewel shined brightly as a projection came from it.

Sakura looked to the projection that landed against her wall and stared at it as a scene began to play. She could see the sun, and clouds, things that Fai had shown her in picture books...was this above water? She'd never been above water, but she knew that her Father occasionally went, especially when he needed things that a wizard could only get on the seashore or at the surface. She saw a ship...or at least she thought it was a ship...and there was her Father! Fai's body hung out over the edge as he stared down at the water with a faint smile playing his face. He looked okay, but he was on land...or at least above water with legs. His belt was missing.

That could only mean one thing. Her Father had been captured by a human. "Moko-chan! I have to find him and bring him back!"

"But Fai's belt has been captured..."

"Then I will get it back for him! Father has always done so much for me! I'll do something for him this time!" Sakura did her determined pose that caused the white creature to look concerned just like Fai would be looking at her if he were here.

"But Sakura...your belt isn't quite long enough to become human on your own...and you need Yuuko's permission."

"Then I'll have my belt taken too!"

"Sakura! That's a really bad idea..." Too late. Sakura had already swam out of the cave. The small creature sighed and followed. Sakura came to a very small cave that Fai kept important papers in. She pulled out one that was bigger than her, and after a lot of careful placement she opened it.

"Okay...Father always said that the these islands were deserted." Delicate fingers pointed to a few very small dots on the map. "Father said this place was called Europe...and he said that lots of people lived there. It's decided. I'll go to Europe to find Father."

"But Sakura...Europe is huge!"

"I'll find him. I have to. I won't lose Father to some human who's just being greedy with his belt and doesn't really love him." Sakura pouted.

"But Sakura...he could be anywhere..."

"You can help me find him!" Mokona pouted itself as it finally realized that there was no talking the girl out of going to try and find Fai. "Come on Moko-chan!" The girl rolled the map back up carefully and placed it back in it's spot before taking the white 'rabbit' into her arms and swimming off at a fast pace.

* * *

"Okay! Here goes nothing!" 

Mokona whimpered as the teenager took the belt off her waist and was now twirling it above her head to get good momentum. "Sakura...Fai wouldn't like this..."

"Father will be fine with it when I get him his belt back. Besides it's just a young boy who's going to find it." Sakura pointed above the waters to a shadowy shape. "He's fishing. It'll fall into his boat, he'll pick it up and I'll ask for the wish I want. It'll be fine."

"Most humans aren't kind though! He could be really, really greedy and let Sakura die! Fai really wouldn't like that! Mokona really wouldn't like that!"

"No...he's kind. I can tell." Sakura swung the belt once more above her head and then let it go. There was a scream, a plunk, and the sound of a boat rocking back and forth on the water. "Time to go!" Sakura swam to the surface and toward a boat where a young boy sat staring at the bottom of his boat as if it were going to try and eat him at any moment.

The boy was almost exactly Sakura's age and had brown eyes and hair. Sakura smiled kindly and went to the edge of his boat. "Hello." The boy yelped in surprise and turned to Sakura giving her the same look he'd been giving the bottom of his boat. "I do believe you have found my belt."

"Y-y-you mean this thing?" The boy leaned forward and held up the belt that Sakura had thrown, and the girl nodded with a bright smile. "Um...I'm sorry you lost it. Here. Take it."

Sakura puffed out her cheeks. "That's not how it's supposed to work."

The boy blinked. "Then how is it supposed to work?"

"You're supposed to make a wish!" The girl waved her arms frantically while somehow no falling back into the waters.

"Um..." The fisherman scratched his head. "Well I wish for you to have your belt back?"

"Here...why don't I help you? Wish for me to be your bride! That's what most people do!"

The boy went bright red in both his face and his ears, "B-bride?!" He shook his head. "I can't do that!"

"But I need to find Father!"

The boy's actions all stopped and he leaned forward slightly. "What?" His voice barely whispered the word out.

Sakura pouted and folded her arms as she puffed her cheeks out again. "I'm a mermaid and my Father who is also a mermaid has been captured by a human just like you! His belt was taken and the person won't give it back, I can't be human by myself...I need someone to wish for it, so I can find him...he can't be happy up here. I need him back."

"Oh..." He smiled sympathetically. "I can understand that. My father recently died in a sea-wreck."

Sakura made an awing sound and looked very sad as she pulled in even closer to the boat. "I'm sorry."

"Me too, but he's in a better place now." He paused for a long moment as he seemed to think something over. "Okay, I'll help you." The boy smiled brightly. "I wouldn't want you to lose your father forever. My name is Syaoran Li. What's your name?"

"I'm Sakura Pink!"

The boy chuckled now. Heseemed to be much more comfortable now that he knew the situation. He placed the belt back in the bottom of the boat and picked up his oars. "That's a nice name Sakura. I'm going to pull into shore before I wish for you to be human it'll be easier that way..."

Sakura had to move out of the way of the oars as Syaoran began to row. As the boy got just out of earshot she looked toward Mokona. "See? I told you he was kind. It'll all be okay now! We'll find Father and his belt and we'll return to the sea! It'll be just that easy!" Sakura could see Mokona whimper slightly as she followed the boat and the boy in it.

* * *

"Are you sure this is okay? These clothes? I can just...have them?" Syaoran nodded as Sakura turned around and around trying to figure out how the clothes worked exactly. Walking had been abnormally easy for her to learn and they had quickly moved onto to getting her clothes of this country. 

"You need to fit in here Miss Sakura."

"So...what now? Can we go looking for Father?" The girl stopped twirling and focused her attention on Syaoran.

Syaoran shook his head slightly. "Not yet...I'd say we give it a day or so before we do that. You need to get used to the land, and you need rest I'm sure. We'll look tomorrow, we can ask people about a person that has his description." Syaoran paused for a moment. "What does he look like?"

"Oh, he's tall and has really yellow hair..." Syaoran motioned for them to leave the shop and they walked down a set of stairs before beginning to walk down a street filled with people. "And he has blue eyes! He smiles a lot and has a really kind soft voice."

Syaoran nodded slowly, "Okay. That shouldn't be too hard to find. There aren't that many blond people here."

After only a couple minutes of walking they went up another set of stairs before Syaoran opened a door that led into a small but very cozy front room. "Well...it's not much, but this is my home. While we're looking for your father you can stay here. I'll even let you have the bed."

"But then where will you sleep?"

"The couch. It's comfortable enough. Or even the floor, it's good for your back." The boy smiled. "Are you hungry...er...I don't suppose you eat fish?"

"Of course I eat fish. It's something to eat...we don't exactly talk to fish so we don't really become attached..."

"Sorry, I just assumed..."

"Nope, it's fine." Sakura smiled. "Besides, I don't want to be a bother."

Syaoran shook his head as he went to walk off into a new room. "You're not a bother. In fact it's kind of nice to have someone else in the house again."

Sakura smiled softly as she followed him into the next room, but it didn't carry to her eyes. Her eyes were seeped in worry and once Syaoran noticed this he gave her that same sympathetic smile and took her hands gently in his before speaking again. "Don't worry. We'll find him."


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Before I type anything else I have to tell you the style of clothing for humans in this story. Think of Fai's outfits in Spirit, think of Syaoran's outfit in Recourt. That's basically the style for men. Womens clothing is a mix of Sakura's outfit between those two worlds. Hope that's not confusing.

I love how I seem to have reversed the roles of people here. Fai is utterly annoyed by Kurogane while Kurogane is only mildly annoyed by Fai...

* * *

"You know, I've heard of seasickness before. In fact when I was first starting out as a sailor I got it a lot, but I've never even dreamed of land sickness before." Kurogane chuckled as he watched Fai empty the contents of his stomach for what seemed like the millionth time.

Fai was wearing a typical male outfit that blue and white in color. However this blue did not take away from the tinge of green that was in Fai's face. He'd been fine for the two to three days that he'd spent on that ship, but the moment his feet had touched dry land he'd become sick to his stomach and it hadn't faded since. "Shut up. It's your fault for...bringing me here." Fai gulped and tried to avoid throwing up again as they kept walking.

Mr. Kurogane Flourite wasn't exactly helping with Fai's illness either. The man always had something to say and it offered little comfort in these matters. Fai supposed it was because Kurogane was a sailor. The sea was hardly ever kind to them, so they in return learned to be rough.

"You can't have anything left in your stomach to vomit. Really, it has to be just bile by now..."

"Oh..." Fai's voice portrayed his stomach sickness, but his tone took on a mocking tone as he spoke. "I just imagine that I'll start to throw up my internal organs soon...It'll start with something small and unimportant, like my appendix, but then it'll slowly go to larger and more important organs, like my lungs, and at last I'll just throw up my stomach itself and then it'll stop."

"Urg, don't talk like that. It's very unlady-like."

Fai chuckled and then groaned as he wrapped his arms around his stomach. "I'm so glad it's unlady-like. I wouldn't want to sound like a lady since I'm a man." Fai was getting pretty sick of Kurogane's repulsion to the idea that Fai was a man. It was getting a little ridiculous. Fai had no chest, no hips, and hardly any hips to speak of. He was straight up and down like a stick, and taller than all women and most men, yet Kurogane still considered him a woman because he had a pretty face and long eyelashes. Absurd! He even wore mens clothing to get his point across. How could there be any doubt as to his gender!

"You're still going on with that story..."

"It's not a story! It's fact! You wished for a man to be your bride!"

Kurogane shook his head. "You're just confused. There's no way you could be a man."

Fai huffed and folded his arms in annoyance. "And just why not?"

"Because you're a mermaid."

Fai's jaw dropped, he completely forgot about his sickness and shook his head back and forth wildly as if trying to convince himself that he had not heard what he'd just heard. "Are you suggesting that all mermaids are women? Are you suggesting that there are no men? How do you think we get little baby mermaids? From bubbles!"

"Sounds good to me." Fai just stared at Kurogane as he wanted to just scream and pull his blond hair out in chunks.

* * *

"Why are you still wearing those clothes?" Kurogane asked Fai as he walked into the living room of his home. The house he lived in wasn't extravagant, but it wasn't simple or small either. It was neatly decorated in a mostly nautical design which he was pleased to find Fai liked.

At the moment Fai was examining the titles of the books he had on his shelves. Kurogane found this a little strange since women during this period of time never learned to read. "These clothes? They look nice, they fit, and they suit my gender." The blond's fingers gingerly pulled a book off one of the shelves and he began to look through it.

"But we bought you clothes today. They fit you and I'm sure they'll look nice on you."

Fai snapped the book shut and walked across the room to Kurogane. He reached out with two fingers and gently poked the sailors chest. "Yes. They do fit. Yes. They are good looking. No. They do not suit my gender, seeing as they are dresses! I thought you'd have caught on by now Kuro-pup."

Kurogane grit his teeth in slight annoyance at this name. For two days now Fai had been calling him by strange things such as Kuro-pup, Kuro-chan, Kuro-rin, and so on. "I thought I told you to stop calling me those stupid nicknames."

"Really? I had no idea you didn't like my pet names for you...hm..." Fai seemed to go deep into thought. "And you know what, I was pretty sure I told you I was a man as well..." The blond shrugged it off, "Oh well, I guess neither of us are very good at listening." Fai shrugged again and strayed off into the house, his nose in that book he'd picked.

* * *

"Fai?" Kurogane knocked on the door. The sound of running water dully heard from behind it.

"Yes Kuro-myu?" Kurogane grit his teeth, as he always did when he heard a name like that, and opened the door to the bathroom. The sound of running water got much louder and clearer. He knit his eyebrows and walked in. He tripped over Fai's thigh high boots. Fai wasn't very good at walking on his own yet, and the very high boots made it easier for the blond to stand and keep his knees locked, but they were one hell of a path blocker...

"Don't leave your things in the middle of the floor!"

Fai flinched slightly. "Sorry. I didn't expect you to just walk in...want to take a bath with me Kuro-rin?"

"There you go again. Being unlady-like..."

"Oh good, I've been practicing so hard."

Kurogane rolled his eyes and pulled himself to his feet. His lips frowned as Fai clumsily left the room with his bare feet and then came back with a box of table salt. "What are you doing?

"I'm homesick." Fai started to pour the contents of the box into the bathtub. It took Kurogane a full ten seconds to make the connection between the box of salt, the bathtub, and Fai's statement about being homesick. Fai was trying to make his own little ocean in the tub...

He shook his head and smiled. Really smiled. Despite all the fights they had and how they annoyed each other ninety-five percent of the time, there were still moments when he was glad he'd wished for Fai. "There's such a thing as bath salts. Would you like some?"

"Are you willing to buy something that probably seems so trivial to you?"

"Just because I won't go along with your guy story and just because your names bug me doesn't mean I want you to suffer. If giving you bath salts will improve your mood..."

Fai made a humming noise. "It wouldn't make me as happy as you giving me my belt would..."

"You know I'm not giving you your belt...I hid it very well."

"I realized that after I couldn't find it under your floorboards..."

Kurogane choose to ignore Fai's comment about floorboards, it would only cause another argument and they seemed to be doing so well at the moment. "Since it is my fault that you're stuck here I will buy you whatever you please...within reason."

"In that case bath salts sound wonderful." Kurogane made an eeking sound as Fai rolled up his pant legs. "What? Afraid your gay?"

"Even if that was the case I wouldn't be gay for you since you're a woman."

"I'm really not..." Fai said in a sing song voice as he stuck his legs into the salt soaked water. He shivered slightly and picked up the box to add even more salt. "Join me Kuro-tan. You're a sailor. Surely you have nostalgia for salt water too."

After the annoyance of the name faded away, Kurogane sighed and pulled off his own boots before copying Fai's actions, only he sat on the other side of the tub...he promptly jumped out of it. "Fai! That water's boiling hot! How can you stand it!"

Fai gave a nervous laugh and smiled. "Sorry Kuro-min, I didn't mean to harm you." The grin his face held said that he was laughing at Kurogane's sensitivity to temperature, but the look in his eyes said that he hadn't really meant to harm him.

Fai had decided that Kurogane was half good and half bad. He was good because he did seem to care, and try to make Fai happy, although these intentions were thrown off by his thoughts that Fai was really just a tomboy. He was also evil to Fai because he kept his belt and kept him in one place. Although Fai was trying to annoy the man into giving him his belt back, he couldn't help but be nice every once in a while. He was a mermaid, it was in his nature.

"Are you okay? It didn't burn you, did it?" Fai's blue eyes gazed up at the man who just folded his arms, huffed, and looked away.

"I'm fine." Fai chuckled at Kurogane's stubbornness. It was cute in its own way.

* * *

"So you really can read?" Kurogane picked up Fai's legs and placed them on the floor so that he could sit next to the blond who once again had his nose deep in a book.

Fai crossed his ankles almost immediately so that his legs were as close together as possible. "Of course. My teacher taught me when I seven years old. I knew how to read this language before I knew how to read the mermaid language."

"They're different?"

Fai shrugged. "The way we say words and such are the same, but the writing is different..."

Kurogane leaned back against the back of chair they sat in. They were silent for about ten minutes. The only thing that would break the silence was Fai's occasional turn of a page. At last Kurogane couldn't take it anymore. "So. Tell me about mermaids."

The book dropped from Fai's fingers. It didn't even seem intentional, that was just how shocked he was by the question. "What?"

"Tell me about mermaids. Their legends and stuff."

Fai now looked to the man showing him the shock that glittered his face. "You kid me Kuro-myu."

"No. You've been here for two weeks, and while I've learned how much you miss the sea you've never said why. You've never said anything about your culture and how this one is different. I'm getting curious. I want to know."

"You're too greedy to understand."

"Then don't make me understand. Tell me so that my greed for knowledge can be satiated."

Fai frowned and pulled his legs up and folded them under his body, much like a cat would as he thought. "Legends...well I can tell you the legend of how we came to be. Every mermaid is literally born knowing this legend...but really it makes it seem like we're miserable when we're not..."

"Tell me. I want to know."

Fai sighed and closed his sapphire eyes. His voice took on a tone that Kurogane would have never expected from the blond. It was calm and loving, as if it longed for something."'Long ago we did not exist. We came to be when the sailors from the world that we cannot see rode the ships that ride the waves of the surface fell into the water and began to sink down.

"These sailors would cry for help, for they as we now know cannot breathe underwater like we can. They wished for some way that they would not drown for they could not swim." Fai opened his eyes and Kurogane saw that they were glazed. Fai was in a trance. "The ocean granted their wish. It gave them a second life, but this life required that they never return to the land. These new beings that the human's later dubbed mermaids were thankful to be alive, but they had lives, they had wives on land. They loved the sea, but they wished to go and see the ones they loved again.

"No matter how much they wished they could only go so far as the shoreline. Their loves would sometimes find them and they began to gather things from the sea and it became known that if they could offer enough of the sea's fineries that they could wish a wish that would get their husbands back...or they could go to the sea themselves. This is said to be the earliest form of what we now call our belts. For our belts are made from pearls and shells just like those offerings were, and our belts are also exactly equal to what we are worth.

"Some did return to the land, they went back to their greedy lives, but some stayed within the ocean with their wives and loves, they stayed there until the end of their days and left children behind. Even though they chose to stay within the sea they were originally from the land. They all died longing to return to he land. They told their children of the land and their children told their children about it. As time passed the land became a mystery to our kind, but we all are left with the longing our ancestors had. We wish to return to the land, but at the same time we cannot leave the sea. We cannot have both. Every mermaid must choose. To bond to a human like the first of our kind did with a wish, or to never go to the surface, but we cannot have both."

Fai's eyes returned to normal. He looked to Kurogane's face and he sighed shaking his head. "I knew you wouldn't understand. It's a legend. It's probably correct on most points, but that isn't the reason we have our wishes. Or it's not our modern reason for having wishes. I probably confused you to no end..."

"No...not really...It's a bittersweet story..."

"Yeah...like I said it's a legend, so I don't know exactly how much is true..."

"What isn't true?"

Fai shrugged and placed his hands carefully in his lap. "Probably our origin. The fact that we're descended from transformed sailors. That in an attempt to get back to the land that we were bound to belts. The wish part is most likely wrong."

"How did the wish come into play?"

"As far as I know it was to save our lives. We would perform a magic trick to get our belts back from humans because if we didn't we'd die." Fai paused. "The longing is correct though..."

"The want to live on land?" Fai nodded. "But you don't seem to like it."

"I have nothing to be here for. Truly, if I loved someone here, or I had a life to live for here, I'd want to stay, but there is nothing, so I have chosen to remain loyal to the ocean."

"So you really can never have both."

Fai shook his head. "Not with the greed humans have. Hypothetically, it is possible. If a human were to wish for the mermaid to be free of their belt, if they wished for the mermaid to be able to choose and go where they pleased in life. If they wished for the mermaid's freedom it would be possible. You are an example of how that would never happen. You wouldn't give me my belt back, you had to be selfish for yourself, there is probably not a soul alive who would wish for a mermaid's freedom of form."

Fai's serious face instantly vanished into thin air and he grinned widely, laughing. "But that's okay Kuro-chu! Mermaid's were made from greed, it's only fair that we should be wanted for greed as well! I don't blame you in particular!"

"I'm sorry."

Fai got that shocked look about his face again. "Huh?"

"I've given you nothing to make you want to stay here instead of the home you've lived in all your life, have I? I'm sorry. I'll...try harder from now on Fai." The sailor stood to his feet. "Keep reading your book...come to bed soon. My room this time."

"We've never slept in the same bed..."

"Just come." Kurogane started to head out of the room and then stopped. "Fai?"

"Yes Kuro-pon?"

"If I can't...make you happy in six months. I'll let you go." Fai stared at the spot where the sailor stood. He just stared with a blank minded expression.

Perhaps humans weren't as greedy as he thought.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: Okay so, now I have all the fun little chapters up, now the real evil starts. Actually, it starts next chapter...but you get the point. I don't think this story is going to last terribly long. Right now I'm counting...Three or four chapters after this one...aye.

Oh, thank you cutiepiethesecond for the idea about the bad guy...I changed it slightly, but you helped me to finish the story plot!

Read, review, enjoy.

* * *

_"Are you happy now? You killed him." A gorgeous women with black hair and red eyes stood before a man who wore a monocle. They both seemed to be human, but the woman had a mermaid's belt wore clothes that were more like a mermaid's rather than the style that this human world._

_"It wasn't my intention."_

_"I know. You were once a selfless human Fei, but now you've completely changed. You took our sea wizard and you killed him!"_

_"You can always get another sea wizard."_

_"Yes, he had a student, but that student is thirteen years old Fei! He now has to not only take over his job before his training was complete, but he has to take care of Clow's daughter. She's two! She will never know her real father, she'll have to listen to the new wizard's stories, but never be able to see or touch him." _

_The man reached out and grabbed at the woman's belt, pulling it off easily. "Then bring him back, we'd both like that now wouldn't we Yuuko?"_

_The woman called Yuuko glowered and folded her arms. "I can't."_

_"Why not?! You're the queen, you're more powerful than any other mermaid! Bring him back!"_

_"You're acting like a child Fei. Even mermaid's have rules. Only the sea wizard can bring someone back from death, and even then it's a terrible price that they must pay. They die immediately after they grant that wish."_

_"Fine, I wish you to tell me about your new wizard!"_

_Yuuko knit her eyebrows and her red eyes flashed. "His name is Fai Blue. He's blond and loud. Kind and gentle. Powerful, but unrestrained. He's smart too. You won't get him. You'll never get his belt. Clow is dead. Accept it."_

_"I won't. If I can't have your wizard to bring him back, I'll find a new way. If he just so happens to come to the surface, I'll grab him. Either way, I'll get Clow back."_

_Yuuko held her hand out. "You have your wish, give me my belt." Hesitantly Fei handed it over. "You won't find Fai. You won't have him back. It's all about balance, even with the price of equal life exchange from the wish, the dead are dead, they're meant to stay that way." Yuuko wrapped her belt four times around her waist and walked through a door leaving Fei alone in the room._

"Miss Sakura, are you all right?" Sakura nodded to Syaoran's question as she rubbed her eyes out of tiredness. That dream she'd had the night before was so awful. She wasn't sure if it was real, or if it was fake, or what, but she hadn't liked it. Her father, Clow, had been killed in that dream, her Father, Fai, was being hunted in that dream. When she had woken up she had been worried that the person who had snagged Fai had been the man in her dream, but then she realized that Fai would have already been dead if that were the case.

"Syaoran?"

"Yes Miss Sakura?"

"We're going to find Father, right?" It had been two weeks and they hadn't seen hide or hair of him, this combined with the dream made Sakura uneasy.

"Of course. We'll find him, we'll find him and then we'll get his belt back for him. Then you can go back to the ocean and live your lives happily." He placed his hand comfortingly on her shoulder and smiled.

Sakura smiled as well. Syaoran was such a kind human. The way Fai had always spoken about the humans greed, she wouldn't have thought that a kind human was possible. It had been possible, the kindest human alive had to be standing right in front of her, and it made her feel warm and safe inside, almost as warm and safe as being with her Father did. She took in a breath and nodded as she placed her hand on his, closing her eyes gently.

This was a mistake. She bumped against something and almost fell to the ground. "Oh!" She rubbed her nose and looked up at the person she had accidentally hit. Her eyes widened. It was the man from her dream! She gasped and grabbed onto Syaoran's hand tightly. "Y-you can't have him! Stay away from him!" She yelled in a very spunky way before running off with Syaoran in toe.

"M-miss Sakura, what was that about?"

"That man..." Sakura's words were cut off as she bumped into another person. This time she was knocked off her feet and pulled Syaoran down with her.

"Ohhh. I'm sorry! I'm just so clumsy today!"

"Sakura?" Sakura's eyes widened as she looked up at the second person she'd bumped into. She knew that face. Blond hair. Blue eyes. That soft loving voice. She knew that voice. It had sung and spoke to her ever since she could remember.

"Father!" She jumped to her feet and pounced on him like she were a cat that had just found it's favorite cat toy. This caused Fai to fall back onto the cobblestone ground, which was not very comfortable. "Father, you're okay!"

"Yes. I'm fine, but Sakura...why are you here?"

A voice spoke out and stopped Sakura from answering Fai's question. "Fai! Who is this girl and why is she calling you father?"

Fai looked up and back at a black haired man. "Kuro-pon, this is my daughter Sakura. She calls me Father because to her, I am her Father."

Sakura puffed her cheeks out. "Is this the man that imprisoned you?"

Fai laughed nervously trying to rearrange himself into a more comfortable position. "Yes. Sakura, this is Kuro-pon."

"Miss Sakura..."

"Syaoran. Please, watch after my Father. I'm going to have a talk with this man about taking things that are not his!"

"S-Sakura..." Fai tried and failed to grab onto his daughter before she ran off with Kurogane, how she was able to drag him off the blond would never know.

"S-so you're her Father?" Syaoran offered a hand to Fai.

Fai shook his hand to indicate that he didn't want Syaoran's help. "Not technically. Her father was my teacher...he disappeared and I took over that father role. I suppose I've been her father for so long that we both just say that we're blood...but we're not really." Fai pressed his hands against the ground and pushed himself to his feet. His step was very unsteady and Syaoran gripped onto his arm to keep him still.

"Not good at walking yet?"

"You'd think after the first week I'd get really good at it, but no, I'm still a little clumsy." Fai sighed and tried to look through the group of people to see Sakura and Kurogane. "I hope she doesn't beat on him too much...She's a shy girl, except when you hurt someone..."

Syaoran nodded a small smile on his face. "Yeah. She's a really good person. She's been talking about nothing but saving you. She's so selfless. I admire that."

Fai frowned at the tone of voice and leaned forward so he could see Syaoran's face clearly. "You're not in love with my daughter, are you?"

"W-what?!" Syaoran's face went bright red as he backed away from Fai. "N-no! Of course not!"

Fai smiled. "Because it'd be okay if you were. You seem like a nice young man. Are you the one taking care of Sakura?" Fai brushed off his sleeves. Since Sakura was on land, it meant that someone had her belt. Although Fai really didn't like the idea of anyone having her belt, he liked the idea of this boy having it better than most anyone else he'd met on his land adventure. He seemed...genuine.

"Y-yes. I-I have been...taking care of her..."

Fai nodded as he looked out into the crowd once more. "Well, tell me how you met. I don't think we'll be seeing Sakura or Kuro-myu anytime soon." Like earlier mentioned Sakura was normally and calm, quiet girl, but mess with her and you'd regret it. If nothing else Kurogane would be regretting meeting her because she was probably ranting at him louder than Fai himself did.

* * *

"Kuro-chan survived!" Fai laughed as the two people came from within the crowd again. Sakura ran over to Fai and hugged him tightly around his waist while Kurogane just stared at him. "Does a cat have Kuro-man's tongue?"

"Y-you're really a man." Kurogane pointed at Fai accusingly.

Fai gasped and hugged Sakura tightly, "You convinced him!" The blond man squealed and twirled him and Sakura around in a circle. As a result of the twirl and Fai's poor balance the two fell onto the ground, but they were both laughing and giggling in a very happy manner.

"Oh! And Father! I'm going to get your belt back! I promise!"

Fai placed his hand on Sakura's head, "You're such a good child, but you don't have to."

"Of course I do! You have to get away from him!"

"I will. In six months if Kuro-tan hasn't made me want to stay I will be returning to the sea...unless of course, Kuro-rin has decided that he'll give it back now because I am a man..."

Kurogane shook his head to get himself out of a trance-like state. Fai shook his own head and chuckled, Kurogane must have been really shocked by the realization that Fai really was a guy. "No. The offer still stands. Six months with me."

"Even though I'm a guy?"

"Yes. I still feel the same."

Fai sighed and placed a hand to his chest lightly. "I feel so special."

Sakura smiled and stood to her feet going back over to Syaoran. "So where are you living Father?"

Fai didn't answer for a couple minutes as he struggled to his feet and then looped his arm through Kurogane's and gestured for the two children to follow them. "Actually, we were just on our way home when you bumped into us. Come on, I'll be glad to show you."

* * *

Fei had followed the girl who had screamed at him. He had never seen the girl before and as such wondered why she would yell at him. A moment later he saw her bump into another person and then not two minutes later he found out why. This person here was the sea wizard. Fai. So that was why. She wanted him to stay away from Fai. She somehow knew that he wanted this person's power for his very own.

So that was Fai. He was just as Yuuko had described him all those years ago. He had a soft voice at times, but at others he was just as loud as she had said he was. He was blond, loud, kind, all the things she'd said. He was just like Clow. Fei wondered if all sea wizards were that way.

It didn't change his wish. He hadn't worked so hard to get ten mermaid belts, he hadn't become a rich merchant, he hadn't been looking for this guy for over ten years just to give up now that he saw Clow in the blond.

This was perfect. He no longer had to wait for Fai to come to the surface. He was already here, and although he was already in the possession of someone else, he had listened and gained the information that Fai would be free from this obstruction in six months.

This was just perfect. All he had to do was to get the man to give Fai his belt back a little quicker. He could use the girl. In fact, that as exactly what he would do. The girl was precious to Fai, and Fai was precious to the man. If he could get the girl, he could get Fai to beg the man to give the belt back so he could save her. The man would buckle and then it all fall into place.

Perfect.

* * *


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: I was so sure I had a bunch of things to type here...

Well, read, review, enjoy.

* * *

"They're nice kids."

Fai grinned as he slowly closed the door as Sakura and Syaoran left for the night. "Thank you."

Kurogane raised an eyebrow at Fai's words. "I didn't say you were a nice kid..."

Fai laughed and pulled Kurogane back into the living room. The blond shook his head as he gently let go of Kurogane's wrist and sat down in 'his' chair with a grace that most people who watched Fai's walking would not have thought possible. "No, but you said that Sakura was a nice kid, and I raised Sakura, so I must've done something right."

Kurogane's eyes flitted up toward the ceiling as he tried to work this logic through and after a moment he himself chuckled and sat down on the arm of Fai's chair. "I suppose, if you want to look that deeply into it."

"I do. I feel like fishing for compliments." Fai frowned as Kurogane's chuckle turned into a light laugh. "What?"

"Pun. You. Fishing."

Fai made a face and hit Kurogane's stomach with the back of his hand. "Not funny. You know very well what I meant." The blond sunk in his seat and sighed. "Well, at least one good thing happened today. Kuro-rin now acknowledges that I am in fact a man."

"Once I realized that Sakura was a mermaid too I could tell...there is a difference."

"Like what?" Fai's jewel toned eyes looked confused as he looked up at the man.

"Your waist mostly, but the girls have more delicate faces. I thought your face was delicate, but compared to Sakura's face your face is positively masculine."

Fai let his eyes close and he nodded. "I see. I suppose that makes sense. So I also suppose that Kuro-myu's attraction to me has stopped." The blond grinned.

"Not really."

Fai heh-ed, "Am I that pretty to you?"

"That...and there's something more...perhaps it's just curiosity..." Kurogane reached down and placed his fingers under Fai's chin to lift his head up. "But my offer still stands. Six months, and if I can't make you happy, I'll let you go."

"You have to try to make me happy Kuro-tan." Fai giggled. "You can say it all you want, but you have to support your words with actions, after all actions speak louder than words!" Fai pretended to scold the pure human by shaking his finger at him in a very motherly way. Fai made an eeking noise when Kurogane grabbed at the wrist that was attached to the scolding finger and pulled him up. "Kuro-chan's so har--" The word that Fai had wanted to say was 'harsh,' but his word was cut off by the kiss that Kurogane laid on his lips.

Fai stayed in that position. His face in a complete daze as the man kissed him, let go, looked at Fai's face, frowned in disappointment, and left the room immediately.

Slowly, Fai sunk back into his seat. This human continued to surprise him in ways that he wouldn't have thought possible for any human, even the ever so kind and compasionate Syaoran. He didn't understand it. Humans were greedy creatures. This human was greedy, but not so much that Fai would hate living here if he had to. What was wrong with him?

Fai shook his head and looked to the wrist that Kurogane had unknowingly gripped too tightly to. He noticed a small bruise starting to form. It wouldn't be anything like the bruises on his lower body from all the falls he had, but he had to hide this wrist...

Mermaids bruise and bleed ever so easily above water.

* * *

Fai giggled as Sakura and Syaoran touched shoulders and dashed away from each other blushing wildly for about the fiftieth time. It was cute to watch. "Sakura." The girl looked back to her proclaimed father and ran to him latching herself onto his arm. A sigh escaped Fai's lips as he thought of how it should Syaoran she did this to, but he reached up and patted her head in a gentle fashion anyway. "Are you okay? Your face is so red." He teased her slightly, but his true intention really being pure. Just like Sakura wanted him to be happy, he wanted her to be happy.

"I-I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Sakura nodded and Fai smiled rubbing her shoulder in an affectionate way. "So what are you two planning on doing after we drop me off at Kuro-pon's place?"

"Umm..."

"We're going home as well."

"Where Sakura and Syaoran can be lovey lovey!"

Fai gasped, reached over, and grabbed Mokona from the shopping basket he was carrying. The blond put his hand over Mokona's mouth and smiled nervously at the people who looked at him. "S-sorry! Practicing that ventriloquism! It's hard you know! Especially the B's and M's! Hope you were convinced!" He laughed in that same nervous manner as those onlookers raised their eyebrows at Fai's childish demeanor and kept walking.

"Mokona!" Fai scolded in a low tone. "I told you to not speak while we were among normal people! Humans have lost their magic, they don't believe!"

Mokona waved its arms. "So we'll make them believe!"

Fai put his hand over the small mouth again. "No! That is the worst idea Mokona has ever had. I can't do magic without my belt and these people wouldn't believe my magic anyway! Just...be quiet, and don't move. Be a stuffed animal. Like those teddy bears I admired yesterday." Fai sighed in relief as Mokona was perfectly still and placed the small creature back in his basket.

"Sorry about th-" Fai was cut off by another nervous laugh at the sight of Syaoran and Sakura. Both children were even more red than when they touched shoulders. Fai hadn't even realized the effect that Mokona's words would have on them until he saw them for himself. It was obvious that they were in love, but they were so pure. Too pure to do anything about it. It was so different than his and Kurogane's relationship. Fai wouldn't even call their relationship loving.

Fai sighed and shook his head before making hand gestures at them that indicated shooing. "Come on now. We all know Mokona was just kidding..." All right, Fai would admit that he knew Mokona wasn't kidding, but he wouldn't tell the children that. For their sake.

"Y-yes Father."

"Of course Sir." Fai opened his mouth to correct Syaoran on his politeness, but he stopped himself and shook his head. He kept moving them forward out of the business district and on toward Kurogane's place of living.

"You two be careful now, all right? On your way home."

"Yes Sir."

"We'll see you later Father."

Fai closed the door and a moment later came crashing out of the house, running and repeatedly tripping over his still clumsy feet. "Sakura!" He didn't sound like he was dying, but he did sound like he really wanted her to come over to him, which once Sakura realized what had happened she instantly did, closely followed by Syaoran.

"Father!" She ran over to him and helped him to his feet. "Are you okay?! Did that man harm you?!"

Fai chuckled and shook his head no. "Kuro-bonbon isn't home. I wanted to catch you before you got too far away. You forgot Mokona."

"T-that's okay." Sakura held back a fit of giggles at how important Fai found it to return items to their proper owners. "You can keep Moko-chan for a day."

"Oh no, I can't!" Fai shook his head as he offered the now sleeping object out to Sakura. "Kuro-pun finds my teasing bad enough, imagine what he'll do if he has to deal with me and the ever joking Mokona! He'll explode!" Fai's voice softened a bit as he frowned. "Okay, maybe he won't explode, but...it wouldn't be good for Father, let's just say that much."

"All right." Sakura smiled that bright smile that Fai had seen since the first day she'd smiled and took the toy from Fai's hands. "Thank you Father!" She hugged the blond tightly. "I love you."

"I love you too." The girl waved as Fai began to carefully 'dance' along the cobblestones back into Kurogane's house.

"Father is so...Father." Sakura hugged Mokona and fully out laughed as she and Syaoran walked. "I love him so much. No day is boring with him."

"He's considerate and thoughtful." Sakura nodded at Syaoran's words and they began to talk in a slow, but steady conversation as they walked home. Unlike Kurogane and Fai, they had gotten to a point where not every conversation had to have a deep and meaningful afterthought behind it. They could just talk and they would be content with it.

All of a sudden Syaoran stopped walking. "What's wrong?"

"We're being followed."

* * *

"So Kuro-pup is working again? You dare to go back out to sea?" Fai followed Kurogane annoyingly close as the pair walked through the house after Kurogane got home not ten minutes after Fai himself got home.

"No. I'm not going back out to sea yet."

"Why?" Fai tilted his head and frowned when he didn't get an answer. "Tell me. I want to know. Kuro-chu is a sailor. They usually have a deep seated passion for the ocean."

"You don't really care. Why should I tell you?"

Fai frowned deeper and reached out a hand to Kurogane's shoulder. "Just because I..." There was a banging against the door and Fai's words were yet again, cut off. "I'll get it." The blond walked over to the front door and opened it with an idiotically bright grin on his face. "Hello?!"

"Sir..."

Fai looked to the sight before his eyes and his hands went back to his mouth. He looked and moved like he'd been slapped in the face. He fell back onto the floor. He wanted to vomit. "G-get her in here Boy!" Fai used a rude name for the boy for he didn't look to be nearly as harmed as his daughter. "What happened?!"

"We were being followed and I tried to get her home, but she couldn't run." Syaoran gave a sob as he came in carrying the unconcious girl. "They caught up with us. I tried to avoid them. I thought that we'd be safe as long as we re out in the crowd."

"But they cornered you."

Syaoran nodded. "They cornered us in an alley and held me while they just beat her." Fai glowered at the boy although he knew that this boy was kind, that he would have struggled. Fai still felt like Syaoran should have at least taken a few hits as well. "Then they d-d-dropped me and told me to take her to you or she'd die!"

"Give her to me Boy." Syaoran seemed to flinch under Fai's harsh tone, but gingerly handed Sakura over to the wizard. For a moment Fai closed his eyes and his hands held her firmly, but gently. "Great Neptune..." Fai shook his head. "Let me tell you something. Mermaid's don't take well to injury. We bruise and bleed easily above water. With these..." Fai bit his lip and handed her back over. "She was beaten up...too much. Take her into the other room. Wait for me." Syaoran nodded and ran off.

Fai turned around and ran his arm over his eye to wipe away the salty liquid that wanted to flood down his face. The humans...those greedy humans... "Kurogane!"

"What!?" There was surprise in his tone at the use of his full name.

"Come here! NOW!" Fai screamed like a child. The tone so high-pitched Fai wouldn't have been surprised if every dog for miles around sat up straight and held their ears closer to their bodies to avoid the pain of the high frequency.

"And if I say no?"

"**_NOW_**." Fai sobbed and placed his hands to face. His body shook from sadness and anger. If he ever got his hands on the people who had grabbed her and beat her... "There's no time! She might die!"

"What?" Kurogane came in and did a double take at the sight of Fai. "What?!"

"My belt! Get me my belt! I need it. You can keep me forever for all I care, just give me my belt now!"

"F-Fai..." Kurogane tried to put his hand to Fai's shoulder but the blond slapped it away with such violence that you could see a bruise already forming on his own hand.

"Don't touch me."

"What's going on?!"

"There's no time, Kurogane! If you want me to be happy then get me my belt!" Fai took his hands off face and looked to Kurogane with an unmatched hate that Kurogane couldn't picture anyone giving anyone, let alone Fai to anyone else. He nodded solemnly and left the room.

Fai bit his lip and paced back and forth until Kurogane came back in holding the string of pearls and shells. "Thank you." Fai grabbed the belt and as he walked out of the room his clothes changed. He didn't turn into a mermaid, but the elaborate and complicated clothing he'd been wearing changed into a set of simple and thin blue robes. Kurogane recognized these to be what he'd been wearing when he first wished for Fai...

"Is she still breathing?" Syaoran looked up and nodded. "Barely."

"All right. Out." Fai pointed at the door. "Now."

"But Sir..."

"I know. You care. I don't much care right now. Humans harmed her. I will not let a human see my technique. Entertain Kurogane." Once the boy had left the room Fai lifted his hands and whispered words under his breath. He reached his hand over the wash basin that sat beside the bed.

Water literally bubbled up toward his hand and when it was close enough he drew it back and continued to whisper in almost a trance-like state until the water formed into one bubble almost the size of his fist. He drew his hands away from it for a moment as a crystal seemed to form within the bubble.

Fai was visibly strained. Nonetheless he kept going. "Damn." He muttered as he lowered the bubble down to the girls chest. "This is hard in an air environment...and I'm no good at healing anyway, he never taught me...just this once please...work." Fai pressed down on the bubble so hard that it popped on her chest and Fai whispered more unidentifiable words as he kept his hands on that spot.

He began to shake, not from emotion this time, but from the strain that doing this put onto him. "Please...please..." Fai jammed his eyes shut and for a minute nothing happened. Then, slowly, the bruises and spots where blood was oozing through the skin began to go away.

Even after all the spots on the surface disappeared Fai remained in that spot. She would have inside wounds that he had to get as well.

At last he gasped, opened his eyes and took his hands away. His shaking did not stop, if anything, it sped up as he stood over his daughter trying to regain his breath from the strain of healing her. He set his shaking fingers over the basin once again and a few small bubbles came up before he placed his fingers to her forehead.

A weak smile came to his lips and he went to the door, opening it and trying to suppress his quivers as he went to where Kurogane and Syaoran sat. "She's okay."

Syaoran sat on the edge of his chair. "R-really sir?!"

Fai nodded slowly. "Yes. It was a long shot, but I was able to suppress all the wounds before they became truly fatal to her. Y-you can go wait for her to wake up now. Kurogane and I need to talk."

"Yes sir!" Syaoran jumped from his seat and ran for the room where Sakura was.

Fai waited until he was quite sure that Syaoran was gone and then slipped the belt from around his waist and dumped it in Kurogane's lap. "There."

Kurogane frowned at it and then frowned at Fai. "Why are you giving me this?"

"It would be trickery for me to beg for it so I could help Sakura and then to just run off with it. Go ahead and make your second wish now. Wish for me to stay with you, or gold, or whatever you want. Just wish for it before I die."

"I know exactly what I want. Come here." Fai obeyed and gasped when Kurogane pulled him into his lap along with his belt. "I wish..." The larger man leaned forward to Fai's ear and whispered the rest of his wish into Fai's ear. The blond gasped and pulled back.

"You are not serious!"

"I am serious. That is my wish for you Fai."

Fai stared blankly until he placed his still shaking hands to Kurogane's face. He just stared blankly, so emotionlessly for the longest time until the face turned from that, to shock. From shock it turned to an emotion somewhere between sorrow and joy. Tears welled up in the blonds eyes and slid silently down his face, but you knew he wasn't sad. He carefully pulled his hands away and bubbles came from them as he went to grant the last wish he would ever grant.


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm counting two more chapters after this. Perhaps three or even four, depending on how the chapter after this turns out...Real confidant on the chapter count, aren't I?

I'm so glad that this and hopefully another story are ending soon. I've started YET another story and four stories is a little much for me to keep up with.

Read, review, enjoy.

* * *

Syaoran's face brightened highly as Sakura's jade green eyes opened slightly. "Y-you're okay!"

"Hm?" Sakura's face turned toward Syaoran and a very small smile came to her face. "Syaoran. Yes, I'm okay..." She was so glad to see him. She was glad that he was okay and seemingly unharmed. She was glad that it had been her to be beaten rather than him. "Where's Father?" She tried to sit up a little bit, she knew she couldn't have been out for very long, and if that was actually the case then her wounds being gone had to be her father's doing.

"He's in the other room with Mr. Flourite. You should really stay laying down." Syaoran stood to his feet and pulled the bed covers more up over the girl's body. "Your father said that you still need a good deal of rest, even though he healed you completely, he said he had to draw from some of your energy. Whatever that means."

Sakura nodded slightly and lay back down as she was instructed. "Thank you Syaoran."

"Huh?" The boy frowned as he sat back down. "For what? Mr. Fai was the one who saved you. In the end I couldn't do anything to protect you."

"You did so much. You brought me out of the water to look for Father. You were kind to me, Father always told me that humans were greedy and didn't really care what happened to us. You disproved that by helping me, and by taking me here after those men hurt me..."

"It was only the natural thing to do..."

Sakura shook her head. "No. You could have been scared and ran away to let me die. You could have done so many other things other than pick me up and take me to the one who could heal me. Thank you."

Syaoran smiled in a sad manner. "You don't understand. I had to save you..."

The door opened and Fai the wizard stepped into the room. In his hands he held a small bowl. "I thought I heard voices from within this room." He smiled brightly and came deeper into the room, placing the bowl on the bedside table, "How do you feel?" He asked Sakura in a soft, loving voice as he pushed some of his daughters bangs out of her face.

"I feel okay, a little achey, and very tired."

"I figured as much." As Fai took the bowl and began mixing whatever was inside of it.

There was a jingle of objects clinking together and Sakura gasped, sitting up straight and looking around Fai's waist. "Your belt!"

The blond sighed in a very slightly frustrated way and placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder. He gently pushed her back into her lying position. "Yes, Kuro-wan gave me back my belt. However, this does not change the fact that you need to rest for a while. You can gawk and squeal when you're better. All right?"

Sakura pulled the covers up over her nose and nodded. Fai's bright smile returned. "Good." The magician dipped his fingers into the bowl and when he pulled them out he had a seemingly clear substance on them. "This is a salve. I'm going to put it at your temples to help you sleep and to help you get more energy while you sleep."

"O-okay." When instructed Sakura turned her head to either side to let her Father put the salve on. "Father, you should sleep too. I know, you're not very good at healing. It must've taken a lot out of you."

"Kuro-chu already told me that I have to sleep after this." Fai laughed. "But thank you for your concern Sakura." Fai pulled his fingers back and set the bowl down. "If you should wake up during the night, put some more on and try to sleep. If that doesn't work, come wake me up."

Fai's head turned to Syaoran. "We have a place on the couch set up for you if you want to take it, however, you are welcome to stay here and worry your head off over my daughter if you please. Under normal circumstances I would, so you have my permission to take my place."

Syaoran gave a slow, shy nod, "Yes Sir."

"G-good night Father..."

Fai smiled and stroked Sakura's hair once. "Good night Love. Sleep well." The blond then turned and left the room.

"You should try to go back to sleep Miss Sakura." Syaoran tapped his feet in an impatient fashion, but the impatience was not directed at Sakura, rather the impatience also gave off a worried air, an air that said Syaoran didn't like Sakura's current state of health and that he wanted that state of health to improve quickly.

Sakura nodded and sunk back down under her covers. For a few minutes there was nothing but the sweet sound of silence in the room before Sakura poked her head back out from the blankets. "Syaoran?"

"Yes? Can I get you anything?"

Sakura gave a small, but happy laugh at the eagerness that the boy's voice portrayed. He was so kind, so sweet, so innocent. She loved all that and so much more about him. She held her hand out slightly. "A long time ago Father told me that his teacher told him that if someone held your hand while you were sick, that it would help you get better quicker...Um..." She flexed her fingers slightly. "W-would you hold my hand? It would mean a lot to me."

There was a short pause in which nothing happened before Syaoran reached out and took Sakura's hand in both of his. "I would be honored to help you." He pulled his chair a little closer to the bed and closed his eyes while he still held onto the hand gingerly as if it were a glass object. "Are you sure there's nothing else I can do for you? Miss Sakura?" Syaoran opened his eyes and looked at the girl. A happy smile spread his face as he watched her. She was already asleep.

The young man reached out and turned off the oil lamp so that darkness completely filled the room.

* * *

"Kyle. Are you absolutely sure of this?" Fei paced the room as a very beautiful young man stood by the door. "Are you sure that he has his belt back?"

"Of course I'm sure." Kyle bowed his head. "As a former mermaid myself I can spot a belt like his a mile away. He's very powerful. When he came out of that house this morning it was draped around his hips."

"So that girl is the wizard's weakness?"

Kyle nodded, "It would seem that way."

"And that also means that the wizard is a weakness to the person who formerly had his belt..." A slow, evil smirk came to his face. "This is all too perfect. Backup plans are even possible under these conditions." A small chuckle escaped Fei's lips as he finally stopped pacing and turned to face the younger man full on. "Kyle. Use the girl. Bring me the Wizard. If you have to, use the former belt holder. Succeed at this, and I'll give you your own belt back."

Kyle swept back his arm and leaned forward into a deep, respectful bow. "Yes. I will not fail."

* * *

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Sakura nodded at her Father as she walked through the room. Syaoran followed close behind her. Although it was not forced, they were linking hand. It would be rather hard for one of them to walk without the other being in toe. "I'm sure. It's been a couple days. I feel great, and I think we're ready to go back to Syaoran's home."

"Are you sure? You are welcome to stay here if you still need more time. Right Kuro-chan?" Fai looked back at the large man with an intense look that said he better agree. Kurogane sighed at the look and nodded. Fai looked to the children once more with a brilliant smile. "See?"

"That's quite all right Father." Sakura laughed joyously and sat down dramatically in a chair. "I want to stay with Syaoran for a while. I know you'll be returning to the ocean now that you have your belt back, but I want to stay here for a little while longer. So...we should move back into his place."

"That's fine. You can visit me here."

Sakura looked a little surprised. "Huh?"

Fai nodded and sat in his graceful manner on the arm of the chair Kurogane was sitting on. "That's right. I too, am staying here for a while. Even though I do have my belt back, I feel like I should stay for now. I don't know how long, but I owe Kurogane, and I can't drag him under the waves with me, he'll drown!"

"So you're really staying here?" Fai nodded. "I hope you'll be happy."

"Sakura." Fai gave a chuckle and held his arms out wide for the girl to come to him. Once the blond was able to wrap his arms around her he spoke again. "As long as you're happy, how can I not be thrilled? As long as you're sure, you can go home now, just be careful. Take the sleeping Mokona with you."

Sakura pulled away from the hug, grinned, took Syaoran's hand, and went to the door. "Syaoran has Moko-chan in his pocket. Don't worry, we'll be careful! Take care, we'll visit soon!"

Fai waved as the door shut and almost immediately Fai stood to his feet. "I'm going to make a mini-ocean in the bathtub. Want to come?"

"You're really staying? Even though I wished..."

Fai put his hand to Kurogane's lips to cut off his words. "I know what you wished for. With that wish, I can do as I please. With that wish I feel a great...deal of emotion for you. I can't put my finger on what the emotion is exactly, but I do know that I do not want to leave yet. I will stay until my daughter returns to ocean...at least. If possible, I want to stay with you for that time. Is that okay?"

"Of course it's okay."

Fai grinned. "Great! Bath-time! Come with me Kuro-rin!" A very small argument seemed to be coming up, but it was suddenly stopped by a knock at the door.

Fai let go of Kurogane's arm and, without tripping, ran to the door and opened it. "Hello!"

"Sea Wizard Fai Blue."

Fai's face fell when he saw who it was. It was a young man. He wore glasses and had blue-gray eyes. In his hands he held a Mokona. Unlike his Mokona that he had gifted Sakura, this Mokona was black with a blue gem. "Watanuki." Fai tilted his head as he stared at the young one. Everyone under the sea knew of the young man that the queen had saved. Everyone knew that she kept him with her in repayment for her spell that allowed him to survive under the waves. "What are you doing here? I thought you were with the Queen."

"I am." Watanuki nodded his head slightly. "Can I come in Wizard Fai Blue?"

"Kuro-chan?"

"Whatever you want now, just go ahead and take it..."

Fai chuckled lightheartedly and stood aside for Watanuki to come in. "Sit. Tell me what's so important that Yuuko of all people sent you up here."

"I have a message for you and Sakura Pink...but she's not here right now is she?" Fai shook his head and Watanuki frowned slightly. "Well, I'll give you the message, then you can pass it onto her."

"That sounds reasonable." Fai sat down in a chair that was parallel to the boy's and Kurogane came up behind Fai's chair, resting his chin on the top of the chair. He watched the newcomer with great interest, as if he had always wondered what else Fai had known from his days in the warm sea. "What's the message?"

"I'm sorry to report this but, Fai Blue and Sakura Pink are to return to the ocean immediately. No questions asked. No reasons will override this order. Disobey and it will lead to your immediate and permanent expulsion from the ocean. Those are Yuuko's words."


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: Originally I was going to make this two chapters, but I decided to make them one. This is the last chapter of the main story next and last chapter will be a epilogue and then the story is done.

I'm sorry if the ending seems a little...anti-climatic. I origially had so much more planned for this story, but none of it got done in the end so I also had to cut those details out of the 'final battle' which isn't really a battle at all.

Well, I hope you all enjoy this chapter anyway, even if I did fail utterly at it.

* * *

Fai raised an eyebrow and stood to his feet, a smile came to his face as he approached Watanuki. "Thank you Kimihiro. I understand perfectly." The human boy shrunk under the smiling gaze of the wizard. To him the smile was very scary. It wasn't a happy smile, more of a smile that told Watanuki that someone, probably him, was going to die very soon.

Skilled hands reached out and snatched the black Mokona that was on Watanuki's lap and his smile changed into a happier one as he carelessly walked back to his hair and sat down in it. For a minute the blond merely looked at the black object before he slid his fingers up and down it, wriggled them on its tummy and pressed down on its blue gem.

Kurogane and Watanuki looked at each other. Kurogane raised an eyebrow and pointed down at Fai questioningly. Watanuki shrugged. "Uh Fai?" Kurogane placed his hand on the mermaid's shoulder and leaned down to that his face was level with Fai's. "Why are you molesting the stuffed animal?"

"I'm not molesting it." Fai said with a chuckle in his voice. "I'm trying to figure out how to turn it on."

"It's an inanimate object Wizard Fai. It doesn't turn on..."

At Watanuki's statement Fai looked up and tilted his head in a curious fashion. "Did Yuuko give this to you before you came up here?"

"Yes, why?"

"She gave it to you, it turns on."

"Why are you so sure of that Fai?" Kurogane asked raising his eyebrow even more as Fai turned the object around and around in his hands.

"Because, I asked her to make my Mokona animate. If she hadn't done it before then she would have gotten the idea from me and make her Mokona animate and given it special skills. One of which should be..." A screen popped up as Fai tickled the bottom of it's left foot. "Communication with her." The wizard grinned at the screen and held Mokona in his lap as the queen's image came onto the screen. "Hello Queen Yuuko!"

Yuuko frowned at the sight of Fai, or perhaps it was the very sight of the screen appearing. "Fai. What are you doing?"

"Talking to you. In fact I have something very important that I must discuss with you."

"What about?"

"Returning."

"I thought I said..."

Yuuko fell silent as Fai raised his hand into the air. "If I may defend myself?"

Yuuko sighed. "If you must."

Fai grinned, "I understood that you want us to return, I understood that you didn't want us to ask questions. However, I no longer am bound to what you say. I have questions, and I want them answered."

"What do you mean you're not bound Fai?"

Fai opened his mouth to speak but his lips shut tight when he felt Kurogane's hand on his shoulder. "He's free. I wished for his complete freedom. You can't tell him to go if he doesn't want to! He can stay!"

A ghost of a shocked look came across Yuuko's face, but it quickly faded and she nodded. "I see. So that belt you're wearing Fai?"

"It's merely for decoration now. I have my complete powers and life no matter if I'm mermaid or human, whether I have this belt or not." Fai smiled placed his hand over Kurogane's. "I can go wherever I please without anyones consent. I no longer have to grant wishes or cast spells, if I don't want to." To Fai, it felt wonderful to be free. It was like he'd had a weight taken off that he hadn't even known was there.

"Well. That does make the situation a little better, but Sakura must return to the ocean."

"Why? She wants to stay with the human she met."

"Because, your existence above water puts her in danger."

Fai frowned, that didn't make sense. "Elaborate."

"There is a man who wants to use your power."

"I'm sure lots of people want to use my power. Same with you, since you're more powerful than even me."

"No. This is something only you can do. He wants to bring your teacher and Sakura's father back from the dead. Only the High Wizard of the ocean can do that. Meaning you."

"No, I can't do that. Clow said that if I were to ever cast such a spell, that I would die."

"He doesn't care. He wants to get your belt, wish for the resurrection, and let you die. This is the very man that caused Clow's disappearance. He wished for a companion, but you know how Clow was."

Fai nodded. "Sickly, weak in his age, and more fond of the ocean than even me."

"Correct. The homesickness killed him more than anything else. Fei regrets letting him die and wants to bring him back to change his mistake, but he's become obsessed. He's willing to sacrifice many lives for it."

"Greedy humans." Fai put his hands to his mouth, but then realized that it wasn't him who had said that. "Bastards, can't they think of the the people they're hurting?"

Fai looked up above his head and gave a sigh that sounded almost like a laugh as he reached a hand up and touched Kurogane's face. "Kuro-chan..."

"Hey, Queen." Kurogane grabbed Fai's wrist and lowered it. "What will this guy do to Sakura if Fai doesn't obey him?"

"I'm not sure. That is why I wish for Sakura at the very least to return to us. He could take her belt, keep her around for a mass wish in hopes that many belts will grant his wish, or...kill her."

At the last two words Fai stood straight to his feet, the Mokona dropping from his lap and Kurogane being jerked forward for he still had a hold on Fai's wrist. "Understood." Fai bowed very low to the picture that portrayed Yuuko's image, showing that even if he was completely free to do as he wished, he still felt some kind of loyalty toward her. This caused Kurogane to be pulled forward even more.

"Fai! Careful where you move!"

Fai seemed to utterly ignore this and kept speaking. "I will find her immediately and send her back to you, then I myself will eliminate this threat."

"Big words Fai."

"I will not fail." The screen then made a buzzing sound and went out completely.

Once the screen disappeared Fai seemed to notice that Kurogane was still holding onto his arm. He stared at the hand and then back at it's owner apprehensively. "Well, that was dumb Kuro-pon, you should have let go."

"You're too random, I couldn't let go, you might start running around the room." Kurogane raised an eyebrow. "So where are we going?"

"We?" Fai shook his head. Because of him Sakura and possibly Syaoran were in danger. He wouldn't let the same thing happen to Kurogane. "There is no we. I'm going somewhere, to help Sakura and Syaoran. You stay here."

"Fai..."

The wizard pulled his arm out of the sailors grasp carefully, as to not bruise his arm, and picked up the black Mokona. "We'll discuss this in a minute, be quiet until then."

Kurogane reluctantly fell quiet and Fai gave the Mokona back to Watanuki. "Here, you should go back to the ocean as well Watanuki. I have no doubt that the queen will be glad to see that you too, are safe."

The boy spoke out his thanks, bowed deeply to the both of them and then rushed out the door. The moment the sound of the door clicking shut was heard, Fai spoke. "You are not coming with me. You are not going to follow me. You are going to wait here and be safe."

"Is that what this is about? Me being safe? Fai! Be real! If they really wanted to hurt me they could come here, besides, I'm a sailor, I would have been dead if you hadn't saved me anyway! Lastly, what happens if you get hurt and I'm not there? Nothing, you die. I'm coming with."

"You will stay here! You shouldn't argu--"

"I'm coming!"

"You are not!" Fai gave off a growl, "Why do you want to come so badly?"

"Because I care!" Kurogane furrowed his eyebrows at the look Fai's face took on, "Yeah, that's right, I care. That kid and girl are good people, and they didn't deserve what they got the first time, let alone what may be coming to them now. That I know to be true, but you are what I'm most worried about, this guy is after you. Not them directly, but you." Kurogane reached out, grabbed the strands of Fai's belt, pulling the blond closer to him. "I did not make that wish on this belt just to see you waste it! I'm coming."

Fai's eyes searched through Kurogane's face as if trying to find something to throw back at him, but apparently his search failed and a sigh escaped his lips. "Let go of my belt, you can come."

Almost immediately they were out the door and headed toward where Sakura and Syaoran lived. A couple of times Fai almost tripped, but both times Kurogane had grabbed onto him to keep him upright. For this Fai was thankful, it had prevented him from taking up any more time to get to his daughter.

"Here." Fai panted out as he held one hand to his chest and brought the other up to the door, rapping his knuckled against the hard wood. Slowly the door creaked open. "Syaoran?" Fai pushed the door open more, but he knew there was no one inside the house. The house completely dark and it had that smell that said it had been empty for days. "Sakura?" Fai walked into the house in hopes that his senses were wrong.

"Fai." Kurogane handed the blond a paper. "It was on the table. It's addressed to you."

Shaky hands reached out and took the paper from him. Bright eyes began to dull as they ran over the words that the paper possessed. "It's signed Kyle." The name Kyle sounded so familiar. Fai put a couple a fingers to his forehead to figure out where he had heard that name before. A couple minutes later he lowered it after he realized that the last time he had heard that name was a couple years ago. It was the name of a missing mermaid. If it was the same person then...Fai doubted that Kyle was the real person behind this.

"What does the rest of it say?"

Fai read it one over again, "It says that his master has Syaoran and Sakura." The mermaid's eyes closed and the hand holding the letter dropped to his side, the letter itself slipping from his fingers and onto the floor. "It says that I have twenty-four hours to show up at a certain place and do as his master says, or something will happen to the kids."

"Good."

"What?!" Fai glared, "How is this good?!"

"We have time." Kurogane grabbed onto Fai's wrist. "I'm a sailor. Who do you think I work for?"

"Um...a merchant?"

Kurogane shook his head, "Wrong. I'm a Captain of the Navy. I work for the King as his sister. We're going to visit them. They'll be interested in hearing this. They may even...feel the need to stop this person."

Fai shook his head, "They're human, they won't believe in magic."

"They'll believe it if you show them some. They're open minded. Come on. We've only got a day." Kurogane pulled on Fai's wrist leading the wizard out of the deserted home and onto wherever the sailor thought that the royal family lived.

* * *

"Fai. Sleep." Fai shook his head and continued to rock back and forth in a chair that was not meant to be rocked at all. "Fai, you're not going to have the energy for tomorrow if you don't sleep."

"I can't sleep." Fai whined. "I'm too worried. What if they're in pain? What if the letter lied, and they're dead or worse Sakura had to grant another wish?"

"We have a plan, I doubt that the letter lied, if they really want you to do something for them, and you need to sleep!" Mind you this conversation was taking place back and forth from the living room where Fai sat, and Kurogane's bedroom, where the man lay. Neither one cared about how loud they were, truthfully, Kurogane was just as worried as Fai was. "It'll be fine."

"But what if it isn't?"

"Fai!" The blond stared solemnly at the ground for a moment before he pulled himself to his feet and walked into the bedroom, pulling himself next to Kurogane and hugging the man around his waist. "They'll be okay."

As Kurogane let the blankets cover the pair of them Fai snuggled closer, biting his lip and closing his eyes as if he were in pain. "They better be."

* * *

"Sakura." Syaoran whispered into Sakura's ear, trying not to make too much noise. They hadn't hurt Sakura or him this time. They had just threatened Fai's life if they didn't come. The guards to this place were constantly walking by the cell that they sat in. "Do you think Fai will be okay?"

Sakura nodded hugging herself around the knees. "Yeah. Father's smart. He won't come here. He'll catch whiff of the danger and leave. Which is good. Then we can do whatever this guy wants and leave. Father will be in no danger." She knew that the man who kept them here was the same man she had seen in her dream. He wanted to kill her beloved Father for some stupid wish. She wouldn't allow it. It almost made her wish that Kurogane had never given him his belt back.

"Comfortable?" The two young people looked up to the doors and there stood the very man who had brought them here. Sakura recognized him by the fact that, like her, he was a mermaid who had lost their belt. She couldn't remember his name, but she had seen him under the sea when he had bought a charm or two from Fai. "Good. Don't worry. You two will be let out of here sometime tomorrow. Fai Blue of the Ocean Blue will be here tomorrow and then it'll all be over."

Sakura's eyes widened. "W-what?" No, that couldn't be true!

"He got the letter that we left for him, and he'll be here tomorrow to pick you up, and everything will go according to plan." No, it wouldn't. It wasn't going according to her plan! "So you two just sit here and wait for it all to take place. I assure you, it won't be at all painful."

With that the man walked off and Sakura's lip trembled. No...her Father, he was going to die, all because they couldn't even walk home without being taken off somewhere...this was how she was repaying Fai for all his years of taking care of her. She was going to have him killed!

"Sakura..." She felt Syaoran's hand on her knee and she turned her head to look at him. He wore a truly concerned look on his face and his voice was softened even more than it usually was. "Are you okay?"

Sakura felt tears well up in her eyes and she shook her head. "Because of me...Father will..."

"No." Syaoran cut her off with a firm, yet still quiet voice. "Your Father is a smart and seemingly powerful man. He'll figure some way out of this, and also, Mr. Kurogane won't let any harm come to him. Besides, if all else fails we'll do something. One way or another, we'll get out of this."

"Syaoran..." Sakura bit her lip lightly. She wanted to believe his words so badly. She wanted to believe that it would all be okay. She wanted to believe that they would all get out of this alive and well, but with them being prisoner's, and Fai's belt being in it all, she just couldn't be sure.

The young girl sobbed once and clung to Syaoran's clothes. She buried her head in it and closed her eyes, taking in the warm scent that drifted off his clothes. Tomorrow would come far too quickly, but she should at least try to calm down and get some sleep.

She felt the young boy wrap his arm around her shoulder and the fingers ran up and down her arm in a comforting fashion. "Sleep. We'll figure this out. It'll all be okay."

* * *

The door opened and the mermaid who worked for the person who wanted Fai's belt pulled them out of the room. "He's here. Fei thought that you might want to see him again..."

"How thoughtful of him."

The three of them walked and walked until they came to a room that looked like it held many treasures within the boxes that littered the walls. By a window sat a man wearing a monocle, obviously Fei, the man that was keeping them there. In the middle of the room stood two people. A blond, and a black haired man. The blond turned at the sound of the door opening. "Sakura! Syaoran!"

"Father! Get out of here!"

Fai only smiled at them and shook his head. Instead the wizard turned to Fei. "Now, what was the deal you wanted to offer me?" Sakura shivered. The tone that her father was using. It was so cold, so icy. She had never known him to use such a voice with anyone. It was scary.

"Your belt, for the children."

Fai looked down at his belt. He lifted the strands up slowly, surveying them, as if this were some leisurely act that he might do on any day when he had the free time. After a moment his fingers undid the knots and winds that made the belt remain seated at his hips and the jingle jangle of the pearls and shells hitting the floor was heard. "Agreed. Give us Sakura and Syaoran, and I will quite willingly give you my belt in return."

"Excellent."

"However, you must give me the children first."

Fei seemed to think this over for a minute before he nodded. "Agreed. Kyle. Let the children go to him." Kyle stepped aside and waved the children off, even going so far as to push against their shoulders to make them go faster.

"Father!" Sakura ran to Fai and Fai placed a hand on Sakura's head for a moment his face turning down to look at hers with a kind smile that she found not even Syaoran could match. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Don't worry. It'll all be okay."

"Wizard."

Fai looked up, his face hardening again. It was as if he were switching back between a human attitude and a mermaid's attitude. Sakura found it a little disturbing. Had being around Kurogane too long changed her father completely? "I'm coming."

Without so much as another word Fai came forward to where the man sat, thrusting out his hand that held onto the belt. Sakura's entire body shook as that evil human took it from his hands. The shaking only stopped when she felt Syaoran place a comforting hand on her shoulder, even so, it didn't stop her from being very concerned for her Father's own life.

"At last..." Fei helt the belt up to the light as if doing so would reveal some deep and dark secret. "Now. For the wish."

Fai tilted his head. "Wish?"

"Of course the wish!"

Fai gave a sour laugh that filled the entire room. "I don't think you understood the agreement, sir. I agreed to give you my belt. I never agreed to grant you a single wish."

"That doesn't matter. I have your belt, you have to grant my wish, or you'll die."

"Nope." Sakura noticed a shift in Fai's standing position. It was more relaxed now, and he held a hand up at his face, as if he were biting on his nails nervously. His voice held no emotion but boredom. "Let me see here. I'm guessing that from the very moment that you learned I was on land you've been plotting for this very moment."

"Long before that."

"Well, this specific plan. You know, the plan to hurt Sakura, have Kuro-chu be forced to give me my belt back so I could heal her. Then once I had the belt back, kidnap the two children to lure me here where I would trade my belt and life to bring someone back from the dead."

"Sounds about right."

Fai chuckled. "Honest. I like that." Fai spread out his arms like a madman looking to the heavens and he took a step back. "It sounds flawless doesn't it? Perfect plan, except you overlooked one thing. Mermaid's are also honest creatures. Full of kindness unless corrupted by some means. I gave my belt back to Kuro-wan. It would have been dishonest to just run off!"

"But this is your belt..."

Sakura was lost, but she kept on listening. She hoped that at one point or another it would start to make sense. "Yes. That is my belt! It has no hold. Kuro-myu wished for the last thing either of us would have expected, my freedom."

"And that means?"

Three steps forward, a quick swing of his hand and Fai held onto Fei's collar. The blond leaned in very close to his would-be killer's face and grinned widely. "No wish." He then leaned forward to the man's ear and for about three long minutes Sakura saw Fai's lips moving, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. After Fai pulled back again she noticed that Fei's face was shocked and Fai's face looked a little smug. "And because of that, I doubt you have any use for this." The mermaid grabbed the belt away from Fei's hands.

"Mr. Kurogane...is my Father okay?"

"I think so. Lack of sleep and excess of worry must have finally gotten to him...Fai! Stop it! You're scaring the kids!"

Fai's laugh died into a giggle as he reached them and then wrapped his arms around both Sakura's and Syaoran's shoulders. "I'm sorry, children, it was a little anti-climatic, but at least it got everything done safely. I think."

"Kyle! Prevent them from leaving!"

Fai sighed. "I guess I spoke too soon, and I thought I had struck a nerve." The wizard raised his hand to Kyle's face causing the man to back up slowly as he stared at something that seemed to be in Fai's palm. "It'd be wise to not carry out that order...Kuro-rin?"

"Yeah yeah...I'm on it." Kurogane went to drag Fei off somewhere hopefully far far away as Fai and the two children went to leave through a different door as Fai began to explain the Queen's order and many other things that had or even had not happened as the case may be.

"That's all great, but Father?"

"Yes Sakura?" Fai smiled brightly down at the children as Kurogane went off in one direction with Fei and the others went off toward Syaoran's home.

"What did you tell that man that made him...sorta stop until the very last second?"

Fai grinned. "I told him about your Father. I told him all the things that he told me about the situation that Fei wanted to create. I told him that Clow was completely against resurrection, I told him that Clow was probably happier to be dead and have me and you alive than to be alive and me dead, with you upset.

"For a minute I thought I had gotten through, but I guess not. I guess he was just really shocked that I would say such a thing. Oh well, it all turned out all right." Fai opened the door to Syaoran's home and let the two children pass through it first before he himself entered the home and closed the door behind him.

* * *

As we all may guess, Fei got handed over to the King, named Ashura. He was sentenced to be put under house arrest for fourty years with nothing to eat gruel, because it's the most disgusting food anyone can think of...

Kyle and about five other trapped mermaids were given back their belts to return to the sea, because even if they had been evil, they had only been evil because they had been told to be.

Now, this is all fine and dandy, sure, the 'evil' guy gets punished, the prisoners get to go free. No one was seemingly hurt. However, this is not what you people want to hear about, now is it? You all want to know what happened to Sakura, Fai, Syaoran, and Kurogane!

Unfortunately that would be giving away far too much information in this chapter. You all will just have to wait a little longer to hear whether they lived happily ever after or not.


	9. Epilouge

A/N: End the of this story. I made it short and simple. Hope you all like it. Thank you to all my reviewers and particularly cutiepiethesecond since this story wouldn't even exist without her.

Read, review, enjoy.

* * *

Yells of concern and surprise filled the ship as two hands gripped to the edge of it, and a second later a blond being pulled them-self up over. At first it seemed like the being was otherworldly, only wearing a light blue shirt and a belt made of shells and pearls. It's lower half almost seeming to appear to be a blue fish tail, but this must have only been a trick of the light. As you heard boots clack against the wood of the ships floor you saw that the being looked almost nothing like what you saw at first. The creature was blond yes, and it had a belt of shells and pearls hanging around it's hips, but there was no fish tail and no light blue shirt. It was dressed completely in a blue aristocratic outfit with black boots that came up to its thighs.

The being looked around the ship, and raised an eyebrow at the way the sailors on the ship were looking at him. "What's with the looks?"

One sailor pointed at the new arrival dramatically. "Where did you come from?!"

The blond looked over the edge of the ship and at the water. He then pointed at it, "Down there."

"But you're completely dry!"

"So?"

"It's a witch! Run away!" The blond sighed and walked forward. A couple of times it seemed to trip over seemingly nothing, but never did he fall. "Actually, I am a wizard...and that's not why I'm dry...now." The blond reached out and grabbed onto one of the sailors arms before they could run away. "Where is Captain Kurogane Flourite?"

"W-why do you want to know?"

The blond sighed, but then smiled brightly, his hold on the poor man's arm tightening. "Because I need to borrow him. Now go get him for me before I give the Queen liquor and she makes a hurricane." He put a finger to his lips, "Oh, I suppose you don't know what that means...Just go get him."

"W-who should I tell him is waiting for him?"

"Fai Flourite." Fai let go of the man's arm and the sailor ran off yelling something about going back to work and then it all went silent. Fai tapped his foot, spun around in little circles, and at last sat on the floor while he waited. Sailors seemed to be awfully slow when it came to delivering messages.

At last Fai looked up and there was the person he'd been waiting for, Kurogane. "Kuro-chan!" Fai grinned widely and practically jumped up into the man's arms. "I missed you!"

"Fai..." Despite the utterly annoyed look on the captain's face he wrapped his arms around the blond's shoulders as he spoke. "You've climbed all the way up onto my ship, scared the sailors, disrupted the flow of my work, and now I want to know why."

Fai giggled and poked the man's nose. "You need to come back to land, Sweetie."

"Don't call me Sweetie, and why?"

Fai looked utterly hurt by the fact that Kurogane didn't already know why, or perhaps it was because Kurogane had shot down his nickname. "Why, Sakura and Syaoran are getting married today! You have to be there! You're the best man!" Sure it had taken the children three years or so to get married, but at last they were, and Fai the wizard wasn't going to let anything go wrong on his 'daughters' wedding day.

"What about you?"

Fai's smile faded a little bit. "Maid of Honor...but that's beside the point! You need to come with me!"

"And let my ship go into chaos?"

Fai shook his head, "Of course not! Leave your first in command to take care of things, it'll only be a few hours, then I'll let you come back. Unless they drill a hole in the bottom of the ship, it should be just fine in that amount of time!"

"That's all fine and dandy, but how are we going to get there?" Fai pulled away from Kurogane and seemed to go through the folds of his clothes until he pulled out a bubble. "With that? You didn't screw up did you?"

"Of course not! When have I ever screwed up with a charm?"

"I don't know, it just seems like you would..."

Fai pouted, "Kuro-tan, we've been living together for three years and you don't even know enough about me to know that I don't screw up spells, I'm hurt!" The mermaid now stuck his tongue out at the sailor.

Kurogane raised an eyebrow, "Better put that thing back in your mouth before I bite it off. Can we go?" Judging by Kurogane's impatience, being around a hyper Fai was a little more than he could handle.

"Right-o." Fai held up the bubble, "Now, you have to help me break it, or we'll have to start the process of finding you and making another charm all over again, and then we'll be late and that's not good." Kurogane sighed as he followed the blond's instructions, as Fai had pointed out, they'd been living together on and off for three years and in all that time, he'd never known Fai to mess up unless it was on purpose.

* * *

"You looked lovely. You look lovely." Fai whispered into Sakura's ear as he passed by and then sat in the seat next to the young woman. "White is really a good color on you, just like pink."

"White looks good on you too Father."

"It's a shame that every speck of dirt in existence shows up on it, now isn't it?" Sakura nodded as Fai leaned back in his chair. "So how does it feel?"

"Eh?"

"To be married." The blond placed his head in his hands as he fixed his gaze the girl and looked at her expectantly.

Sakura went bright red and hid her face behind her bouquet. "N-nice. But don't you already know? You and Kurogane..."

"We have a domestic relationship." Fai grinned. "Simply put, we live together...and yes, I stole his last name...It sounds nicer than Blue...but we're not married. You have a ring and everything."

"I see...does that make you unhappy to not have a ring?"

"Not at all!" He laughed. "Kuro-chan and I have our fun. And we've admitted that we both...have certain feelings for each other, but the truth is that we are from two completely different life styles and neither one of us can completely adjust to a different one. I'm a wizard, I stay under the waves quite a bit while Kuro-tan runs his ships and does things for Princess Tomoyo. We meet up every now and then, and that's fine. I mean it's not like we can really settle down and have kids..." Fai's head whirled around and around as he looked this way and that. "Where's Syaoran?"

"Talking with Kurogane I think. He hasn't stopped blushing since we said 'I do.' I think he thinks Kurogane can help." Sakura giggled.

"Well I'm going to go find them," Fai said as he stood to his feet so quickly that he almost fell back down in it again. "Despite the fact saying this makes me sound like a perverted old man, I want to see you two kiss again. It's so sweet."

Before the blond could see Sakura's immediate reaction he had gone off, and a few minutes could be seen returning, one hand pushing Syaoran along in front of him, and the other dragging Kurogane along behind him. "Kuro-myu, how do you do this again?"

"Make them kiss?" Fai nodded vigorously and the man sighed. "Well, you can just shove them together..."

"Kuro-chan! That's mean!"

"...Or you can tap the glass and make everyone else tap their glasses until they do it..."

Fai grabbed a glass and a spoon, "I like that idea better." The blond began to gently strike the glass with the spoon and after a moment other people were heard tapping their glasses until at last Syaoran and Sakura gave in and leaned forward in a sweet, loving kiss.

"Kuro-pii," Fai whispered as he watched. "Do you think they'll be happy together?"

Kurogane nodded, "Until the end of their days."


End file.
